Q. Threatening a Detainee's Family

Four agents told the OIG that they were aware of threats to take action against a detainee's family. According to the Church Report, threatening harm to others was a prohibited technique for military interrogators at GTMO. The Church investigators found one incident of threats made against the family of detainee Slahi (#760). Church Report at 174.

A police officer from California who served at GTMO as a member of the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force stated in his survey response that detainee Ahmed Esmatullah Fedah refused to give truthful answers in his interviews and that the officer told Fedah that he would attempt to deport any of Fedah's relatives living illegally in the United States.

Several FBI agents indicated that they had second-hand information about threats to detainees' families. Two FBI employees reported that they read or heard from others that military interrogators threatened detainee Slahi (#760) with the possible mistreatment of his family, including his mother, unless he cooperated with interrogators.152

Notes

152. The military's use of threats with Slahi is discussed in more detail in Section XV of Chapter Five.